peace

As a woman in a time when the recently elected leader of our country has expressed such raw misogyny, I definitely feel as uncertain of my future as Matisse’s “Woman with Hat” looks. So I was honored to have my poem “Wings Clipped” featured by WordPress Discover in an article about poetry in uncertain times: Chaos, Control: Four Poems for Uncertain Times. Four good poems you will want to read.

Another of my books, Gods of Water and Air, is on a Goodreads Giveaway. Click that link to enter and possibly win one of five print copies I’m giving away by December 12. “Poems to unravel love, grief, and joy” — my Amazon subtitle seems right, right now. I think many of us have experienced these feelings in the last couple of weeks, going through the most intense election I’ve ever experienced.

Added to that intensity was one far more powerful to me personally: the death of my brother on October 10. It put a lot of things in perspective, a very large one being that I am mortal too. Life is incredibly short — shorter for some than it might be — and much longer than had been imagined for others, like my 93-year-old mother. These poems and essays — and even a short play on the imagined afterlife of dogs — speak to mortality too, and how important it is to cherish all the love, grief, and joy we’re given in a life.

As I think about giving thanks in a couple weeks at a family feast where there will be one empty chair, I’m thankful for it all. Here’s an excerpt from one of the poems in Gods, “Accept the Invitation”: –>

The million volatile impressions

you are today strung together

on the ribbon of your name

are not enough for me.

I want no careless window-shopping

around your vicinity, but to plumb

the void, make a hair-raising journey

behind personality. To stand together

in the light that streams

from a hidden source in this world

whenever being meets.

Visit http://RachelDacus.net for more information and writing by Rachel Dacus.

It seems like a good time to consider tolerance and all its meanings, especially for those of us who write and can give voice to the need for it. The dictionary defines tolerance as: “willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.” I think the key word here is “willingness” — an open mind.

Last year I joined the staff of Tiferet, a journal founded on the principle of tolerance and compassion. Tiferet brings together writers who promote tolerance. Founder Donna Baier Stein, who named the journal, says the Hebrew word Tiferet means “heart, compassion, and a reconciliation of opposites.” Today more than ever, seeming opposites must learn to come together.

Through a quarterly literary journal, monthly radio interviews, and global community of writers Tiferet brings divergent faiths and beliefs together. inspiring us to create, exchange, and grow.

And in 2015, happily, Tiferet’s community and projects are also growing. Tiferet needs to raise $10,000 for another vibrant year of publishing, interviewing, community-building, and more. Hopefully, Tiferet’s Indiegogo campaign — to concludeon February 19 — will push forward and raise much-needed support.